The management and treatment of the horse in the stable, field, and ...

254 The Management and Treatment of the Horse,
brougham horses, or are put into Tattersalls or St.
Martin's Lane, to be sold as the property of a gentle-
man. Coper No. 2 looking after them and having in
his pockets some weighted balls, which he takes care to
give the animals before the show commences. Coper
No. 2 runs up the horses until he thinks he has
attained enough for them, when they are knocked
down to some novice, who thinks because that horsey-
looking gentleman bids so much for them he has not
given too much by giving a fiver more. There is
another class of land sharks in the horse line, and they
are as dangerous as the common coper. These are the
guinea hunters, or gentlemen who buy horses on
commission. Many of them when they know a gentleman
is in want of a certain class of horse will go to a
fair or to some coper, and buy a good-looking screw
for a few pounds; they will then send it to stand at
livery at some respectable livery stable. Coper No. 2
is again called in, but this time he takes the part of a
gentleman, and Mr. Commission-hunter introduces Mr.
Flat to Mr. Sharp, who soon sells him a miserable
screw, Mr. Commission taking his share of the
plunder, and departing in peace. When the horse
arrives in Mr. Flat's stable, they find that if they
have bought a horse they themselves have been sold.
There is still another class who are the most heartless
of all the horse coping tribe ; they are men who sell
horses upon commission. If they have a wealthy man
they will sell his horse fairly, because they think they
can make him pay, but let a man who has come down
in the world and is forced to sell his horse and